Vehicles may be equipped with various kinds of driving assistance systems. Such systems may provide assistance, such as a parking assistance system using a display while the vehicle is stationary or moving at an extremely low speed during a parking maneuver. The parking assistance system may be located in a forward portion of the vehicle via a central information display, such as a windshield, rear-view mirror, or center console, such that the driver is looking forward to view the information instead of looking in the direction that the vehicle is moving or projected to move. In this situation, the driver cannot maintain view of the road while using the parking assistance system to park the vehicle.
Another driving assistance system is a warning system that informs the driver or occupant (“driver”) of a situation that could be dangerous, such as a collision with another vehicle. Some examples of warning systems that provide information to the occupant are included in back-up assistance systems, lane-assist systems, and blind spot detection systems.
While the above-identified systems provide the occupant with warnings of potential collisions with objects or other vehicles, these systems fail to provide forward maneuvering assistance to occupants. More specifically, these systems fail to provide the occupant with guidance information related to specific conditions, such as narrow roads with obstacles in the occupant's projected path or driving through gates or entering into driveways, in such a way that the occupant may view the guidance information while driving and maintain view of the road. For example, a back-up assistance system provides a warning to the occupant when the vehicle is in reverse and when certain objects are located behind or near a rear portion of the vehicle within a certain proximity to the vehicle. The system does not provide the occupant with forward maneuvering information. Similarly, the blind spot warning system alerts the occupant to objects within a certain proximity to a specific blind spot on the vehicle, but does not provide information of objects or vehicles that may enter into such an area on the vehicle based on the vehicle's forward projected path.
Furthermore, when occupants are operating the vehicle in a forward direction or are turning, occupants often misjudge driving maneuvers or do not notice other vehicles or objects in the vehicle's projected path. This misjudgment may lead to the vehicles colliding into or scraping against other vehicles or objects, causing damage to the vehicles, objects, or other vehicles. A forward maneuvering assistance system with a head-up display (HUD) in the field of view (FOV) of an occupant provides guidance and/or safety information about specific conditions or obstacles, such as gates, walls, adjacent cars, while the occupant is able to maintain view of the road, even at low speeds in narrow lanes or while entering a driveway or passing through a gate. Because the information is displayed in the occupant's FOV, the occupant may react more quickly to the provided information. Forward maneuvering assistance systems increase the occupant's safety by assisting the occupant in avoiding obstacles and damage to the vehicle.